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Friday, March 23, 2012 (Mountain Home RV Park, Mountain Home, Idaho)

We all decided to stay another night here...Steve and I were taking the trailer in for new tires and besides the weather forecast for tomorrow was better.We had been watching the forecast for the mountain passes we have to go through on our route...there is one particular one called Cabbage Hill that can be tricky—we don’t want any snow or ice.

Even if we weren’t traveling today, I still had to pack up the inside because we were taking the trailer to Les Schwab Tire Center.Steve unhooked everything outside and just left everything in place for our return.It was 8:45 when we left our site and headed to the tire place...just a couple of miles away in downtown Mountain Home.

To our relief, Les Schwab had a huge lot with plenty of room for Steve to manoeuvre the rig and park.A fellow from the tire store came out and met with Steve and after taking a look at the tires, they went inside the store.A little while later, Steve was back and he moved the rig into the “big rig” area for the installation of the new tires.Apparently, the heavier duty G rated tire Steve wanted wouldn`t fit due to limited space in the wheel wells...just not enough room for the higher profile tires.So he got the best tires he could that would fit that were E rated....the same as the old tires just a different brand. They assured Steve that the Power King TowMax was a good tire. It just so happened that this was the same tire as our spare...a brand that Steve had never heard of before and assumed that it was a poorer quality tire than the original Goodyear Marathon.

Steve figures that we have put approximately 38,000 km/23,750 miles on the trailer plus whatever was on it from the factory to Victoria. We started to notice poor wear on some of the tires last year when we did a tire rotation in Georgia. A fellow Montana owner told us he got only 800 miles on one of his tires when he noticed a bulge...so I guess we got awesome mileage on ours!!

As we were waiting for the work to start, Steve noticed just how bad one of the tires was...the rubber was completely worn with the steel cords exposed. Either this just happened on our last trip or every time Steve checked the tires we were parked on that part of the tire. The tire guys couldn`t believe how bad all the tires were from tread separation...we were very lucky that we hadn`t had a blow­-out. Because we are on the move and don`t have the room to haul 4 tires around the manager said he would make the warranty claim for us, so hopefully we get a decent credit towards our purchase.

Once all the new tires were installed, Steve went into pay and just double-checked to ensure the tires had been balanced.Well, I guess it is a good thing he asked because the installer had missed that very important detail on the work order....they don`t normally balance trailer tires and our originals weren’t either.Consequently, they had to remove each tire and balance it.

About 2 hours later we pulled back into our site at the RV Park....very relieved that we had new tires.Thank goodness we had had that discussion with that fellow Montana owner yesterday afternoon.

We got all set up (again) and while we had lunch, Dennis and Suzanne took Dunkin to a vet to get his nails cut and to pick up some special medication he needs for his skin.When they got back, Suzanne and I went over to Walmart, a short distance down the road, and did a little shopping.As usual, we both went to just pick up a couple of things...and returned with bags and bags!

While we were gone, Dennis helped Steve with the wiring to get the cable working.The park has free cable and since we weren’t staying long, Steve hadn`t bothered putting up the satellite.But when the new receiver was installed, they had changed some of the wires...anyway, they managed to get it sorted out and the cable was now working.Let`s hope the satellite still works next time we set it up!

The rest of the afternoon and evening was pretty relaxing.Suzanne and Dennis came over for happy hour...we sat inside today because it was just too chilly out...what a change from yesterday when we sat outside in our shorts!

After dinner, we watched TV...but it wasn`t long before I was falling asleep and headed to bed.I guess Steve ended up watching about 4 episodes of America`s Most Wanted and turned the TV off at midnight.

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About Us

We married in 1982 and our sons, Rob and Chris were born in 1983 and 1985. In 1990 we built our dream home in North Saanich just north of Victoria BC on 1.21 acres. We both had long careers, Dianne in Human Resources and Steve as Branch Manager for a controls systems wholesaler.
Steve always felt that there were no guarantees in life as far as health and mortality went, so we planned to retire early and RV full-time.
In late 2009 we began the build process on our custom Toy Hauler truck, taking delivery in early 2010. We moved into our new Montana 5th wheel in Feb 2010, living in it for 4 months while still working. In May 2010 we purchased 2 Yamaha Grizzly 550 ATVs. We're ready!
Just shy of our 55th birthdays, on June 25, 2010 we retired and started our life as gypsies.
We prefer dry camping (boondocking), getting as far away from civilization as possible. However, our size limits us from getting into all of those remote areas. Good thing we have the ATVs to explore with.